Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) has often been referred to as the “Queen of Forages” because it is an excellent source of protein and digestible fiber, and because of its wide adaptation. Alfalfa has a high mineral content and contains at least 10 different vitamins and is an important source of vitamin A. Alfalfa improves soil tilth, and, in symbiosis with nitrogen fixing bacteria, is highly effective in converting atmospheric nitrogen to biological nitrogen. Thus, alfalfa is an ideal crop for use in crop rotation to improve soil tilth and replenish nutrients depleted from the soil by other crops such as corn.
The environment in which plants are grown for agricultural production continuously offers new obstacles to agricultural production, including, for example, changes in weather conditions, pests, and disease. Plant science agriculture involves manipulation of available plant resources to meet the needs of the growing human and animal populations. Each new cultivar or variety released to agricultural production is selected for the purpose of increasing yield resulting from increased disease resistance to prevalent diseases, or from direct or indirect improvement in yield potential or efficiency of production. Development of stable, high yielding cultivars with superior characteristics is an ongoing goal of alfalfa breeders.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a novel alfalfa cultivars and alfalfa seed.